Pros and Cons of Outsourcing Mobile App Development
Let's face it, everyone wants a cool mobile app for their business. But having an in-house development team with the right expertise can be an overhead that may not be lucrative. This brings remote mobile application development to the limelight. But it has its advantages and disadvantages. So, we must know the pros and cons of outsourcing mobile app development for taking a decision.
Presently, as the market is flourishing, it brings about many choices for taking up the mobile app development route. Many businesses consider in-house app development seems an affordable option at first sight. Nonetheless, you must consider the additional expenses involved.
As you have to keep resources in payroll which may not be feasible to your current business model. The majority of small businesses and startups don't have much of a budget in the beginning. For them, assigning the project to skillful dedicated developers is a more cost-effective solution.
First-of-all, you must analyze the benefits and downsides of outsourcing mobile app development. This will empower you to make better decisions. We will discuss both aspects and conclude with our professional insights into the matter.
Advantages of Outsourcing Mobile App Development
Mobile applications are a booming source of revenue with a 14% CAGR to reach US $100 billion by 2022. Let's have a look at the benefits of outsourcing mobile app development.
- Wider talent pool
- No overheads
- Greater transparency
- Cost-effective business model
- Focus on other aspects
Now, we discuss the rewards that offshore mobile app development delivers to businesses globally.
Wider Talent Pool
When you talk about offshore mobile app developers, you don't have to think local or regional in your search. In reality, you can stretch to be global. Yes, that's right.
A person sitting in any part of the world can be part of your project team. Statistics prove that India, Pakistan, Ukraine, Bangladesh, and the Philippines are booming IT markets. They can provide you with a fantastic breed of talent that matches your technology needs.
You can have a varying criterion that helps your business requirements. Therefore, you can get a wider talent pool for exploring and making a selection. The biggest advantage is that you’d always have more people to choose from.
But don't forget the specific requirements in your quest of diversifying the eligibility criteria. Otherwise, you will have a hard problem narrowing down to who are you looking for. Probably, you may keep on going around in circles in your search. Subcontracting a third-party IT firm saves you from this hassle, as they can allocate the best resources to you.
No Overheads
So, you have decided to work on your mobile app in-house. What happens when it is complete and deployed? You decide to hold off on any additional development until you test out the market for say, the next 6 months.
How will you sustain compensation for the resources in the time being? With remote mobile app developers, you initiate a team to work on a project for a specific time duration. They work for that duration and the team disbands after project completion.
Thus, you don't have to pay them for additional compensation before starting work on the next version of the app. It's like a subscription model that expires once the contracted time is over. Sounds cool, eh?
Moreover, you also don't have to worry about any additional costs. For example, office equipment, insurance, or additional perks that proper resources who join your company as employees get. Hence, you save money by outsourcing a mobile application project.
Greater Transparency
Why go through the hassle of micromanagement of mobile programmers? Because you can oversee the functioning of remote mobile app development undertaking with the help of tools and software. They help you get to know all the improvements and progress of your project at any point in time.
Nowadays, there are a lot of companies that are aggressively following agile practices including Scrum, Kanban, Lean, or XP, etc. By going Agile, they achieve a smooth way of incrementally going ahead in your mobile application project. The agile process provides transparency to all stakeholders regarding the execution of the project.
This way you don't have to micromanage the offshore mobile application developers. If you have concerns then you can hire a project manager in-house, while the remote development team can work independently. So, you can get a status checkpoint without having to intervene excessively now and then.
Cost-Effective Business Model
Perhaps, it is the most obvious advantage, as remote IT resources cost less. The main reason, they are usually located in regions or countries where your local currency exchange rate is higher. Therefore, you can hire them on a comparatively marginal salary. Still, you get the same quality in comparison to the local programmers in the developed countries like the United States.
In case, you add up all the compensations of your entire offshore development team. Then, you will see a considerable reduction in the overall project cost. So, you can utilize the saves money on other aspects of the project.
Afterall, a penny saved is a penny earned. This is especially beneficial for small to medium-sized companies who want to get their mobile app launched in the market. That's why this is a very crucial element in deciding to go for offshore mobile developers.
Focus on Other Aspects
We all know the stakes involved in making an application successful in the app market. This requires precision and a lot of market traction. You need to execute it through various sales and marketing strategies.
This is the reason companies rather like to have remote mobile app developers working on the development projects. So that they can concentrate on other important aspects. For instance, app launch, marketing, and other steps for making sure that the app succeeds in the market.
Disadvantages of Outsourcing Mobile App Development
These are the shortcomings of remote mobile application development.
- Narrowed specialties
- NDA & IP protection
- Time, cultural and communication conflicts
Next, we look upon these deficiencies of offshore mobile application development briefly.
Narrowed Specialties
You are going through your search for finding the right resources. So, you might get a lot of expert-level candidates with their focus on a handful of specialties. What if you are looking for developers who have holistic experience?
Are they willing to experiment and learn something new? Maybe, the hired remote app developer may not be up to that challenge. Ultimately, this can force you to hire an additional resource in between the project duration.
The only way out of this problem is to have a clear plan on the type of resource you want. Therefore, set out the work expectations before hiring the resources. So that you don’t face this issue during the project.
NDA & IP Protection
Today, one of the biggest challenges to any mobile app is security and code protection. What if you get done with a mobile app project only to find out that the whole codebase has been sold off to a competitor in the market for half of the project price? That would be a complete horror story.
The only way out of such a situation is to have all your legal and contractual obligations in place. Only contract an offshore mobile app development services company, who is comfortable in signing off an NDA and IP agreement. This will make sure your app idea remains secure. Besides, they will transfer to you all legal rights to the developed code once the project is complete.
Time, Cultural and Communication Conflicts
Working with remote IT resources can be a lot of fun and a great learning experience. But you have to keep in mind that people from different backgrounds, ethnicities, and cultures have certain norms. So, realize that these aspects also need to be respected at all times.
A joke in one culture may be something rude or insulting in another. Also, there will be a certain language barrier. For example, your accent, dialect, or linguistics may not be understood properly sometimes.
However, if you are sensitive about boundaries and develop a culture of respect and understanding. Then, you are likely to overcome these barriers without facing severe impediments. The trick is to have people feel involved and valued without running anyone down.
It's the same practice you'd probably have for the in-house team as well. Put up a communication model with mutually favorable timings where resources need to come together for meetings. Also, setting up general rules for communication can pretty much help in taking care of all these aspects.
Conclusion
We are living in a time where mobile apps and websites are dictating the whims of the user market. Products are being user-centric where even services are treated as commodities. Consequently, it's time to embrace this change in its entirety in the digital era.
This means working in an offshore mobile app development team structure is something very common. Especially nowadays when working from home has become the way forward post Covid-19. We all are working in a wide web of connectivity through various chat, team, and networking software tools.
This makes it relatively easier to overcome communications problems and still helps us deliver work on time without any delays. The next line of products through remote mobile developers would also be developed on similar lines. As a result, they will be boasting of great quality and high business value in the consumer market.